Qualified Domestic Partnership Criteria

A qualified domestic partnership is one in which two people are registered as domestic partners with the Secretary of State for the State of Washington and meet the following criteria:

1. Both persons share a common residence,

2. Both persons are at least eighteen years old,

3. Neither person is married to someone other than the domestic partner and neither person is in a domestic partnership with another person,

4. Both persons are capable of consenting to the domestic partnership,

5. The persons are not more closely related to one another than second cousins as determined by the rules of civil law,

6. Both persons are of the same sex or if the partners are of opposite sex, one of the persons is at least 62.

Employees are advised to consult an attorney regarding the possibility that the filing of this declaration may have other legal and/or financial consequences, including the fact that it may, in the event of the termination of the domestic partnership, be regarded as a factor leading a court to treat the relationship as the equivalent of marriage for the purposes of establishing and dividing community property, assigning community debt, and for the payment of support.